BOB INGLE: New Jersey's foot dragging continues on marijuana

New Jersey's medical marijuana law is more than three years old but still isn't up and running as proposed. Washington state approved its version in 1998 without all the hassles and has moved on to pot legalization for recreational use. It happened because the people took matters into their own hands.

Washington state voters legalized marijuana for recreational use in November. The law went into effect the next month and this April 20 was the first 4/20 (a term significant to pot smokers) since the law passed. You'd think there would be shouting and celebrating in the streets. You would be wrong.

For a decade, Seattle has had a huge annual event called the Hempfest in August to celebrate things marijuana, which was a curiosity to tens of thousands of outsiders and a so-what event to locals who didn't participate. Even though the law changed, those attitudes didn't.

It was hard to find anyone publicly taking note of 4/20 here. There was an event at a club called The Luxe in the University District and while men and women from their 20s to their 60s wore leis of fake marijuana leaves, no one in sight was smoking it. A reporter for The Daily Beast said he found some tokers in an alleyway outside the bar, hidden behind tarps.

There are a couple of reasons for this: Federal law prohibits marijuana use even in the two states that have legalized it - the other one being Colorado. There were uniformed Seattle police officers about, some riding bikes. They didn't seem disturbed by anything they saw. Why?

Hilary V. Bricken of the Canna Law Group, which deals with legal issues involving marijuana, said Seattle's mayor has determined that pot smoking will be a low priority for police. The smell of cannabis is no longer an excuse for searching a car.

The other issue is the framework for growing, processing and distributing pot isn't in place. There are some laws that follow those on the books for other products. For instance, you can't smoke cigarettes inside a public place, and that rule also applies to marijuana. You can't drink alcohol at an outside public place other than on bar premises, and that law applies to pot as well. You can have up to an ounce for personal consumption, but you have to be 21 or older, like the rule for alcohol. In fact, the state's Liquor Control Board will enforce the rules, which will cover everything from growing to distribution to point of sale.

What does this mean for the marijuana industry that was supposed to sprout like weeds from this legalization? What about the international marijuana tourist trade imagined? Bricken said it's anybody's guess, but there have been suggestions. Like, for instance, cannabis bowling alleys.

New Jersey was late to medical marijuana and implementation has taken longer than expected - the bill was signed into law by then-Gov. Jon Corzine on his last day in office. New Jersey bureaucrats could have taken more advantage of the experience of those who went before. That they haven't is laid at the feet of Christie by his critics who say political ambitions got in the way, that he had to appeal to the far right wing of his party.

Washington state hired an outsider and expert, Mark Kleiman, a UCLA professor and author of "Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control" to be pot czar. His task is to make it work. The idea is to sell it for less than the black market price but high enough to deter youth consumption. It will be heavily taxed and officials are hoping for millions of dollars in new revenue. The Evergreen State has no income tax.

Besides newfound tax money, one of the arguments for legalization is that it makes no sense to give people criminal records for something many argue is less dangerous than other substances that are abused. Kleiman says if marijuana turns out to be a substitute for heavy alcohol use it would be a big plus because alcohol abuse is a bigger problem that cannabis abuse. Theoretically that would save taxpayers money and destroy the criminal-run and violence-ridden black market.

You may be wondering how this edgy experiment was launched when so many politicians are afraid of their shadows. Washington state has initiative and referendum. That means anyone can write legislation, and after getting a required number of registered voters' signatures, it goes on the ballot. If it passes, it becomes law without the legislature and the governor. About half the states have it.

Although New Jersey isn't one of them, ironically, the movement for I&R started here in the Garden State in the early 1890s. Many attempts have been made to bring it here, all of them defeated by politicians and lobbyists. If the people are in control, special interests lose because they can't buy off lawmakers.

In 2009, when Christie ran for governor, he had a list of 88 ways to make the state better. No. 28 was this: "I will give New Jerseyans a stronger voice in government by amending the State Constitution to create a statewide initiative and referendum process to allow public questions to be placed on the ballot."

In a restaurant a short distance from where the 4/20 salute took place, I asked the young waiter if he had gone to the celebration; he said he hadn't. He didn't know anybody who did, either. As he walked away he mentioned in passing the fixed price brunch covered beverages, including the Bloody Mary bar.

At that location nobody had a clue what celebration I was asking about. Something tells me after legalized pot becomes fully operative it's not going to be a big deal except to visitors. Maybe being illegal is a part of the allure. After it's been up and running a few years we should know if it helps or hurts and if voters made a wise decision.

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BOB INGLE: New Jersey's foot dragging continues on marijuana

New Jersey's medical marijuana law is more than three years old but still isn't up and running as proposed. Washington state approved its version in 1998 without all the hassles and has moved on to